JPH06208988A - Wet treating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a wet treating apparatus of a structure in which leakage of vaporized treating fluid is sufficiently prevented. CONSTITUTION:Liquid curtains 22, 23 for feeding liquid L to neutral chambers 2, 3 by shutting OFF a channel of treating fluid vaporized from a treating chamber 1 are provided, and a board 10 is conveyed through the liquid L fed by the curtains 22, 23. A fluid feeder 22 is formed, for example, of a partition wall 221 for partitioning the chamber 2, and a curtain side plate 222 stood oppositely to the wall 221, and the liquid L fed from a lower inlet 225 flows out from a partition wall outlet 226 and a side plate outlet 227 provided in height of a conveying line 40 while storing between the wall 221 and the plate 222. The board 10 is conveyed through the outlets 226, 227.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wet processing apparatus for supplying some liquid to a rectangular substrate for processing. More specifically, the present invention relates to a wet etching apparatus, a wet stripping apparatus, and the like used when forming a fine circuit on a liquid crystal substrate, for example.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various types of devices for processing the surface of a substrate for the purpose of forming fine circuits have been known. Among these, as an apparatus for processing by supplying a certain liquid to the surface of the substrate and causing a specific chemical reaction, for example, a wet etching apparatus that performs etching with a chemical solution or a wet method that removes a resist with a stripping solution such as strong alkali is used. Peeling devices and the like are well known. Here, in a semiconductor process or the like, a process that does not use liquid such as vapor phase growth is generally called a dry process. Therefore, in the present application, a process using a liquid such as a developing process using a developing solution and a wet etching process using a chemical solution is called a wet process, and an apparatus used in this wet process is called a wet processing apparatus. I will decide. Further, the liquid used in the wet process will be called a processing liquid.

FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory view of a wet etching apparatus as an example of a conventional wet processing apparatus. A conventional wet etching apparatus has, for example, a processing chamber 1 at the center.
And the neutral chambers 2 and 3 are arranged in front of and behind them. The neutral chambers 2 and 3 are preliminary chambers for entering and leaving the processing chamber 1. On the side wall of the carry-in side neutral chamber 2 on the carry-in side, a neutral chamber carry-in port 21 is provided. A processing chamber carry-in port 11 is provided in the partition wall between the carry-in side neutral chamber 21 and the processing chamber 1. Further, the processing chamber unloading port 12 is provided on the partition wall between the processing chamber 1 and the unloading-side neutral chamber 3,
A neutral chamber carry-out port 31 is provided on each of the side walls on the carry-out side. The substrate 10 is transferred along the transfer line 40 through the entrances and exits in the order of the loading-side neutral chamber 2, the processing chamber 1, and the unloading-side neutral chamber 3 by the transfer roller 4, for example. And during that time, the processing chamber 1
The substrate 10 is etched while passing through. The configuration of the processing chamber 1 differs depending on the etching method. For example, in the case of spray etching, a nozzle 13 for injecting a processing liquid is provided above the room. Then, the processing liquid is sprayed on the substrate 10 passing below to perform the etching process.

In the above conventional wet processing apparatus, the processing liquid, that is, the chemical liquid used for etching contains a large amount of chemically active components such as acid or alkali.
If leaked to the outside of the device, it will corrode other devices and equipment around it. In particular, the treatment liquid is often heated in order to increase the reaction rate, and the treatment liquid easily vaporizes and is easily discharged to the outside of the apparatus as vapor. Furthermore, this is all the more true in the case of spray type or jet type etching. Therefore, conventional measures have been taken to prevent the vaporized processing liquid from leaking out of the apparatus. In this regard,
In the conventional wet processing apparatus, exhaust ports 20 and 30 are provided on the inner walls of the neutral chambers 2 and 3 arranged in front of and behind the processing chamber 1, and the insides of the neutral chambers 2 and 3 are provided with the exhaust ports 20 and 30.
It exhausts from 30 with an exhaust pump. Then, the exhausted processing liquid is liquefied by a cooling trap or the like and discharged to a waste liquid tank or the like.

[0005]

However, the discharge by the exhaust pump does not completely shut off the flow path of the vaporized treatment liquid, so that the leaked vaporized treatment liquid can be sufficiently removed. Instead, it will inevitably leak out of the device from the neutral room carry-in port. The presence of the vaporized processing liquid leaking from the neutral chamber carry-in port or the like can be confirmed by violently corroding a metal piece or the like if a metal piece or the like is placed near the neutral chamber carry-in port or the like. Such a situation is the same in the case of other wet processing apparatuses other than the wet etching apparatus, and in the case of a wet processing apparatus that uses a highly reactive processing solution such as acid or alkali, the vaporized processing solution is used. Must be strictly prevented from leaking out of the equipment. Particularly in a semiconductor process, a liquid crystal process, or the like, leakage of the vaporized treatment liquid may corrode or malfunction the sensors and instruments in the clean room, possibly causing an unexpected accident. Further, in the case of an apparatus or the like which uses a processing solution harmful to the human body or uses a processing solution which gives off a bad odor, it is of course important to prevent the processing solution from leaking out of the apparatus. The invention of the present application has been made in consideration of such problems, and an object thereof is to provide a wet processing apparatus having a structure in which leakage of a vaporized processing liquid is sufficiently prevented.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the wet processing apparatus of the present invention is provided in a neutral chamber,
The substrate has a liquid curtain part that allows the liquid to flow while blocking the flow path of the vaporized processing liquid from the processing chamber, and the substrate is configured to be transported through the liquid flowing in the liquid curtain part.

[0007]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be described below. As in the conventional case, a wet etching apparatus will be described as an example of the wet processing apparatus. FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a wet etching apparatus as an example of a wet processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a side sectional view of a portion of the processing chamber of the wet etching apparatus shown in FIG. Figure 1
The wet etching apparatus shown in FIG. 2 has a processing chamber 1 in the center and two neutral chambers 2 and 3 arranged before and after the transfer line, like the conventional wet etching apparatus shown in FIG. There is. As in the case of the conventional device, the neutral chamber carry-in port 21, the process chamber carry-in port 11, and the process chamber carry-out port 1 are used as the doorways to the respective rooms.
2 and a neutral chamber carry-out port 31 are provided.

The mechanism for transporting the substrate 10 is to rotate the transport roller 4 similar to the conventional one, and the substrate 10 is loaded by the plurality of transport rollers 4 arranged along the horizontal transport line 40. Side neutral room 2, processing room 1,
It is transported to the unloading side neutral chamber 3.

This wet etching apparatus is of a spray type. Therefore, a nozzle 13 is provided inside the processing chamber 1, and the processing liquid is ejected from the nozzle 13 toward the substrate 10 below. The treatment liquid is supplied from the treatment liquid tank 14 outside the apparatus to the nozzle 13 by the treatment liquid pump 15, and the temperature control mechanism 16 is composed of a heater and a water cooling coil attached to the treatment liquid tank 14. Is heated to a temperature of, for example, 20 ° C. to 50 ° C. Therefore, the heated treatment liquid is ejected from the nozzle 13 like a jet stream. A part of the sprayed processing liquid adheres to the substrate 10, and the etching process of the substrate 10 is achieved.

As shown in FIG. 2, the bottom plate 101 of the processing chamber 1
Is formed in a funnel shape, and the processing liquid discharge port 102 is provided at the lowermost end thereof. Therefore, the processing liquid that has not adhered to the substrate 10 is discharged from the processing liquid discharge port 102. Although the discharged processing liquid is configured to return to the processing liquid tank 14, it may be discharged to a waste liquid tank or the like so as not to be reused.

Further, as can be seen from FIG. 2, a processing chamber exhaust port 17 is provided on the back wall of the processing chamber 1. The processing chamber exhaust port 17 is connected to an exhaust pump 173 by a duct 171 via a mist catch 172,
As a result, the processing chamber 1 is exhausted. Mist catch 1
Reference numeral 72 is a box-shaped member having a cooling coil 174 disposed therein, and is for liquefying the vaporized processing liquid exhausted from the processing chamber exhaust port 17 and returning it to the processing liquid tank 14 again.
That is, when the inside of the processing chamber 1 is exhausted by the exhaust pump 173 provided in the latter stage, the processing liquid vaporized in the form of mist flows into the mist catch 172 and is cooled by the cooling coil 174 provided inside. The liquid is liquefied and returned to the processing liquid tank 14 again. However, as in the above case, the waste liquid may be discarded.

Since the processing liquid is chemically active such as acid or alkali, each member in the processing chamber 1 and the member for exhausting the processing chamber 1 are made of a material having strong chemical resistance. Or have been subject to such an assertion process.

Next, the neutral chamber of this embodiment will be described. As can be seen from FIG. 1, the two front and rear neutral chambers 2 and 3 have substantially the same configuration except that they are symmetrically arranged with the processing chamber 1 interposed therebetween.
Therefore, the following description will be given with a focus on only the carry-in side neutral chamber 2. The carry-in side neutral chamber 2 is partitioned into two chambers by a liquid curtain portion 22 described later.
Exhaust ports 201 and 202 similar to those in the processing chamber 1 are provided on the back wall of each of the partitioned chambers, and a duct and an exhaust pump (not shown) connected to the exhaust ports 201 and 202 are provided. Exhausted.

The liquid curtain portion 22 blocks the flow path of leakage of the vaporized processing liquid from the processing chamber 1 while allowing the substrate 10 to pass therethrough, and is a partition wall 221 that vertically partitions the interior of the neutral chamber 2. And a curtain portion side plate 222 that is erected upright in front of the partition wall 221 to form a flow path for the liquid L together with the partition wall 221. Then, outside the apparatus, a curtain portion tank 223 that stores the liquid L supplied between the partition wall 221 and the curtain portion side plate 222, and the curtain portion tank 22.
Pump 22 for the curtain part for supplying the liquid L from 3
4 and. In the curtain part tank 223,
In addition to the new liquid L flowing in little by little,
A drain is provided for discharging when the water level exceeds a certain level.

Further, at the position between the partition wall 221 and the curtain side plate 222 of the bottom plate 23 of the neutral chamber 2,
An inflow port 225 for the liquid L is formed, and the liquid L sent by the curtain pump 224 is the inflow port 2
From 25, it is supplied so as to be collected in a portion between the partition wall 221 and the curtain portion side plate 222. In order to let the supplied liquid L flow out, a partition wall outlet 226 and a side plate outlet 227 are provided at the height of the transfer line 40 of the partition wall 221 and the curtain side plate 222. Therefore, the liquid L supplied by the curtain pump 224 flows out from the partition wall outlet 226 and the side plate outlet 227. The partition wall outlet 226 and the side plate outlet 22
Since 7 is a portion through which the substrate 10 passes, as will be described later, it has a slit shape that is long in the horizontal direction perpendicular to the transport direction. However, the pressure of the curtain pump 224 is set such that the liquid level of the liquid L accumulated between the partition wall 221 and the curtain side plate 222 is higher than the heights of the partition wall outlet 226 and the side plate outlet 227. Has been done. That is,
The partition wall outlet 226 and the side plate outlet 227 are in a state of being blocked by the accumulated liquid L although they flow out.

The liquid L that has flowed out falls onto the bottom plate 23 of the neutral chamber 2, but the bottom plate 23 of the neutral chamber is, as shown in FIG. 1, the front and rear parts partitioned by the liquid curtain portion 22 like funnels. The liquid L that has been formed on the bottom plate is discharged from the bottom plate outlet 231 located at the lower end. The bottom plate outlet 231 is connected to the curtain tank 223 described above by a pipe, and
The liquid L from 1 returns to the curtain tank 223 again.

The liquid L may be tap water, but the treatment liquid may leak out of the apparatus due to the process of mixing the vaporized treatment liquid and revaporizing the treatment liquid. It is more preferable that the components are less likely to be mixed. Furthermore, although the liquid L is circulated by the curtain pump 224 as described above, a filter may be provided in the circulation path or the liquid L stored in the curtain tank 223 may be replaced little by little. Is also good.

In the apparatus of the above embodiment, the three air knives 51, 52 and 53 of the first, second and third are arranged along the transfer path as shown in the figure. Air knife 5
1, 52, and 53 are respectively configured by two air nozzles arranged above and below with the transport line 40 sandwiched therebetween, and blow air flow to the front surface and the back surface of the substrate 10.

First, a first air knife 51 is arranged between the liquid curtain portions 22 and 32 and the processing chamber 1. The first air knife 51 is for preventing the liquid L from being brought into the processing chamber 1. That is, the liquid L adheres to the front surface and the back surface of the substrate 10 by passing through the liquid curtain portion 22, but the substrate 1 remains attached with the liquid L.
When 0 is transferred to the processing chamber 1, the processing liquid is diluted with the liquid L when the processing liquid is jetted and adhered as described above, and as a result, the expected etching reaction cannot be obtained. Is. Therefore, the first air knife 51 blows air on the front surface and the back surface of the substrate 1 to remove the liquid L, and the substrate 10 is treated in a state where the liquid L is not attached.
I am going to carry it in.

Next, a second air knife 52 is arranged in the processing chamber 10 near the processing chamber carry-in port 11. The second air knife 52 is for preventing the processing liquid placed on the surface of the substrate 10 from flowing out. That is, as described above, the exhaust port 20 is provided on the back wall of the carry-in side neutral chamber 2.
1 is provided and is exhausted by an exhaust pump, and the atmosphere in the processing chamber 1 passes through the processing chamber carry-in port 11 to the exhaust port 2
01 is slightly sucked. Therefore, the processing liquid on the surface of the substrate 10 is drawn by the exhaust air of the exhaust port 201 and flows, and there is a possibility that a uniform etching process cannot be performed. Therefore, the air flow is blown in the direction opposite to the direction of the exhaust air from the exhaust port 201 so that the second air knife 52
Are arranged to cancel out the air flow due to the exhaust of the exhaust port 201 so that the processing liquid does not flow out on the surface of the substrate 10.

Furthermore, a third air knife 53 is arranged in the carry-out side neutral chamber 3. The third air knife 53 prevents the processing liquid from being taken out of the processing chamber 1. That is, a predetermined amount of treatment liquid for etching treatment adheres to the surface of the substrate 10. Therefore, when this passes through the liquid curtain portion 32 of the carry-out side neutral chamber 3, a large amount is mixed in the liquid L in this portion, or the treatment liquid remains even after passing through the liquid curtain portion 32, which causes a problem. Therefore, the processing liquid on the front surface and the back surface of the substrate 10 is scraped and removed by the air flow of the third air knife 53.

Now, the operation of the above-described wet etching apparatus will be described by focusing on the liquid curtain portion 22. First, the substrate 10 that has been exposed and developed is transported by the transport rollers 4 and enters the carry-in side neutral chamber 2 from the neutral chamber carry-in port 21. Then, along the transfer line 40, the liquid curtain portion 2 in the neutral chamber 2
Pass 2. That is, the liquid L enters the liquid L from the side plate outlet 227 from which the liquid L flows, passes through the liquid L accumulated between the curtain portion side plate 222 and the partition wall 221, and exits from the partition wall outlet 226. Then, after the liquid L attached to the front surface and the back surface of the substrate 10 is removed by the above-mentioned first air knife 51, the substrate 10 enters the processing chamber 1 through the processing chamber carry-in port 11 and is etched. After that, after entering the carry-out side neutral chamber 3 from the process chamber carry-out port 12 and removing the processing liquid attached by the third air knife 53, it passes through the liquid curtain portion 32 of the carry-out side neutral chamber 3,
The neutral room carry-out port 31 is reached. Then, after passing through a water washing device (not shown) or the like, it is sent to the processing device of the next step.

In the wet etching apparatus having the above-described structure and operation, a part of the processing liquid vaporized or atomized in the processing chamber 1 is, for example, the processing chamber carry-in port 11.
Leaks into the neutral room 2 on the loading side. However, since the flow path of the leaked processing liquid is blocked by the partition wall 221 of the liquid curtain portion 22 and the flowing liquid L, the vaporized processing liquid does not leak outside. Therefore, as in the conventional case, the chemically active treatment liquid is used in the neutral chambers 2 and 3
There is no possibility of leaking from the equipment and corroding surrounding equipment.

The structure of the above-mentioned embodiment is not limited, and many modifications are possible. For example, in the configuration of the liquid curtain portions 22 and 32, the liquid L is supplied from the lower inlet 225 and the upper partition outlet 226 and the side plate outlet 227 are provided.
It is not limited to the structure in which the liquid L is caused to flow out from the above, but may be a structure in which the liquid L is simply caused to flow downward. In the above description of the embodiments, the wet etching apparatus is used as an example of the wet processing apparatus, but the field of application of the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the present invention can be effectively applied to a wet-type resist stripping apparatus or a wet oxidation processing apparatus that uses a strong alkaline solution. In other words, the present invention can be effectively applied to all wet processing apparatuses that must prevent leakage of the processing liquid due to corrosive surrounding devices or giving off a bad odor.

As described above, according to the wet processing apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to sufficiently prevent the vaporized processing liquid from leaking from the neutral chamber, and effectively prevent the corrosion of peripheral devices and the like by the processing liquid. be able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a wet etching apparatus as an example of a wet processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a side sectional view of a portion of a processing chamber of the wet etching apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a wet etching apparatus as an example of a conventional wet processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Processing chamber 2 Inlet side neutral chamber 22 Liquid curtain part 221 Partition wall 222 Curtain part side plate L Liquid 3 Outgoing side neutral chamber 4 Transfer roller

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A wet processing apparatus comprising a processing chamber and a neutral chamber provided in front of or behind the processing chamber, wherein the neutral chamber blocks a flow path of vaporized processing liquid from the processing chamber. A wet processing apparatus comprising a liquid curtain part for flowing a liquid in this way, wherein the substrate is conveyed so as to pass through the liquid flowing in the liquid curtain part.